“But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judges?”

A New York law firm specializing in forecloseures had a homeless-themed Halloween party last year that mocked the homeless. Really. Pictures leaked and wound up reported in Joe Nocera’s New York Times column.

OK, you’re thinking; that’s fairly horrible. How could people who specialize in foreclosures mock the homeless? But wait…

“Mr. Nocera — You have destroyed everything and everyone related to Steven J. Baum PC,” said the letter. “It took 40 years to build this firm and three weeks to tear down.”

Sure mister Baum, blame the media. Or yourself for having done something monstrous in the first place. Before that party we might have spun your specialty as “a sad but necessary part of the financial process.” But after you threw a catered party making fun of people who live in makeshift shelters?

Commenters on the net have been saying mean things like “Hope you kept your homeless-person costume, mister Baum!”

Schadenfreude is often taken to be a character flaw. But in this case I’ll make an exception.

One of the things I like about the Bible is the concern of some of its authors for the poor. I could be wrong, but I think that concern is one of the few positive things in the Bible that you don’t find as pronounced in Greek or Roman culture. Yet, how much you want to bet that at least half the partners in the law firm consider themselves Christian?